The news drew reactions from AIDS activists and public officials ranging from delight to dismay and promised a new round of debate over the

FOR THE RECORD - Additional material published Aug. 16, 1990:Corrections and clarifications.A story in the Chicagoland/Du Page section of the Aug. 15 Tribune about CTA plans to install a controversial AIDS poster on buses and in train stations reported incorrectly that Circus Vargas had canceled its CTA ads and its performances in the Chicago area. Circus Vargas did cancel its CTA ads, but will perform at 13 locations in metropolitan Chicago, Northern Illinois and Northwestern Indiana between Sept. 1 and Oct. 16. The circus opens Sept. 1 at Golf Mill Center in Niles and ends its area run in Chicago, at Belmont and Western Avenues. The incorrect information was provided by a CTA spokesman. The Tribune regrets the error.

appropriateness of the public service advertisement, which features photographs of three couples-including two men and two women-kissing.

``Both sides will feel very strongly,`` said CTA Executive Director Alfred Savage, but ``we are required to put them up.``

``We know we`ll probably be inundated with calls once they start going up,`` said another senior staffer, who acknowledged that agency officials had hoped to avoid installation and the turbulence expected to accompany it.

The CTA board decided in June to accept the ads after being told the agency could be sued if it withheld approval. But because summer is a strong season for paid advertising, officials said they doubted any public service space would become available.

However, free space opened up with the cancellation of paid ads by Circus Vargas for performances that had been scheduled here but now have been called off, officials said Tuesday.

About 60 posters will be put on bus exteriors as early as Wednesday, while 20 signs will be installed on rapid transit platforms throughout the city. They will be displayed for 30 days, Savage said.

The poster, measuring 2 1/2 feet high and 12 feet long, is the work of a New York artists collective called Gran Fury. It features the message,

``Kissing Doesn`t Kill: Greed and Indifference Do,`` and photographs of three couples who are kissing.

The first panel depicts a man and a woman; the next, two men; and the third, two women.

``Oh, fabulous,`` declared Marisa Cardinale of the American Foundation for AIDS Research when she was told the poster will be displayed in Chicago.

``That`s great news.`` The foundation sponsors a national program to promote AIDS awareness through art.

The poster ``has nothing to do with the cure for AIDS,`` asserted Ald. Robert Shaw (9th), sponsor of a pending City Council resolution opposing the ad. ``It has something to do with a particular lifestyle, and I don`t think that is at the CTA should be about the business of promoting.``

The poster isn`t meant to persuade young people to be gay, said Marlene McCarty, a member of Gran Fury.

``But homophobia has been a huge problem in regard to the AIDS crisis,``

she said in a phone interview from New York. ``For once, we are trying to present the whole idea of homosexuality as something that isn`t dark and evil. It is part of everyday life.``

Disagreement over the ad extended Tuesday to members of the CTA board.

``I believe that the CTA has a responsibility to listen to the community that is most affected by the AIDS crisis,`` said board Member James Charlton. ``That community has said that advertising posters such as this will have a positive impact.``

``I deeply deplore the fact that the CTA has become involved in . . . promoting the gay lifestyle,`` said John Hoellen, another member.